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Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter (R) and representatives from Planned Parenthood of Indiana on Thursday signed a settlement agreement after a state Court of Appeals ruling in September said that a minor's right to privacy supersedes the state's interests in investigating potential abuse, the Indianapolis Star reports (Penner, Indianapolis Star, 12/1). PPI in March 2005 filed a lawsuit seeking temporary and permanent injunctions to prevent Carter and the state's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit from searching the records of clients at 40 Planned Parenthood affiliate clinics in Indiana. Carter said he used MFCU to subpoena the records to investigate whether family planning clinics are properly reporting cases of rape and molestation for children under age 14. Marion County, Ind., Superior Court Judge Kenneth Johnson in June 2005 denied a request by PPI to delay implementation of his earlier ruling allowing Carter access to the records (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 6/16/2005). The state Court of Appeals on Sept. 22 overturned Johnson's decision to allow Carter access to the records, the Star reports. Granting MFCU's "demand for unlimited access to PPI's minor patients' medical records is neither the only, nor the most effective, nor the least intrusive means of serving those interests," the ruling said. "We're very thankful that we came to this agreeable end to a disagreeable episode," PPI CEO Betty Cockrum said, adding, "I believe it became fairly clear and conclusive that we do our jobs." Carter was not available for comment, but a Carter spokesperson said that he had decided not to take the case to the state Supreme Court (Indianapolis Star, 12/1).
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